When It Comes to Miles and Points, Don’t Assume Anything

I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad that Marriott/SPG transition is finally over and done with. Well, there are still kinks to be worked out, obviously, but at least people will no longer be agonizing over which travel packages they need to purchase. No judgement, I would have been right there with you if I had a sizable stash of SPG/Marriott points. Alas…

Anyway, there were all kinds of theories thrown around the internets, from giant point refunds to generous mapping, unicorns and so on. Marriott remained coy about the whole thing, which further fueled speculation. Well, the final reveal turned out to be rather disappointing, especially if you counted on receiving a giant unicorn.

Honestly, the new mapping on travel package hotel categories looks pretty fair to me. It’s definitely not generous, but it’s not horrible either. I imagine it’s a logistical nightmare where it was impossible to make everyone happy in the process, as in customers and management.

There is no doubt that Marriott went about it in a sneaky and deceitful manner. Leading up to the merger, they  let folks upgrade to Category 6, 8 and Tier 1-3 knowing full well that it would be an equivalent of flushing money/points down the toilet. Obviously, they knew what the new mapping would look like because they released it right after the transition.

Why they would risk losing so much goodwill on the first day is beyond me. Or maybe they think their customers are stupid? Obviously, folks in the  points community are anything but stupid, and noticed right away that they got hosed. Imagine that!

I figured that after making some noise on the social media, Marriott would backpedal and that’s exactly what happened. Everyone who overpaid will be entitled to a refund of 30k points. As reported on DansDeals, you can request the exchange by contacting Marriott here and selecting “Packages–Deals” topic. In my opinion, this is a fair resolution.

Some readers and bloggers believe that Marriott should also let them upgrade to a higher category. I truly hope it happens, but I don’t think Marriott is obligated to do this. After all, there was an announcement few days before the transition that upgrades or downgrades will no longer be possible in the new program. Sure, Marriott has botched up this whole thing, but there was enough notice to let folks upgrade if they wanted to do so.

Now many are disappointed because the property they were betting on (and it was essentially a bet) is not bookable with the existing certificate. It stinks, but those were the rules of the game. Marriott has said that they were planning to map the categories fairly, which was subject to their own interpretation. Many customers have made certain assumptions, and lost.

I’m not trying to be snarky, and sincerely hope that the upgrade will be allowed after all. In these days, with the power of social media, anything is possible.  But it’s a reminder that it doesn’t pay to assume anything when it comes to loyalty programs. Big corporations are in it to make money, not provide windfall to customers who already got an amazing rate on mileage transfers.

Like I said in my post on the subject, it’s mostly about the miles. Look at the hotel cert as an extra and you won’t be disappointed. Fortunately, Marriott has a huge footprint, so with some flexibility, you should be able to get value out of this perk. And if not, consider getting a partial refund. For example, the old 1-5 category travel package will give you 45k Marriott points if you decide to cancel the hotel portion.

I make wrong assumptions all the time

This isn’t related to Marriott, but I wanted to share one instance where I assumed wrong. Last year I got 60k miles offer on Avianca co-branded card with the idea of possibly using it to bring my parents from Belarus to US. The nice thing about Avianca LifeMiles program is that it doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges on Lufthansa.

Since I don’t have United miles (another program that doesn’t pass on surcharges), I thought it would be good to have Avianca miles which in theory, would book the same flights for 30k miles one-way. In theory.

I never really checked whether Minsk-Tampa flights were bookable via Lifemiles. I just assumed they would be. Well, they are not. Minsk-Frankfurt leg is operated by Lufthansa Cityline, a subsidiary of Lufthansa. You guessed it, it’s not accessible via Lifemiles. Even emailing them  will not help.

And I would know this if I did some research because it is mentioned on this Flyertalk thread, along with numerous other Avianca issues. And there are plenty of them. There are many other examples where I’ve made a wrong assumption, but this post would be too long if I listed all of them.

Looking at the big picture

When I signed up for Avianca credit card, I did it with the intention of burning the miles to go to/from Belarus. At the time, my trip to the South Pacific wasn’t even on the horizon, yet I ended up using them  on Sydney-San Francisco route operated by United. I still have 20k miles left in my account, and will probably utilize them either for trip to Hawaii or a possible flight to Canada in a few years.

The miles don’t have a hard expiration, so I’m hopeful that I will put them to good use… eventually. And even if not, it’s no big deal because I got my Australia-USA flight out of this sign-up bonus. I’m certainly glad I didn’t buy Avianca miles for 1.5 cents apiece, but even then, I would probably break even at some point in the future.

I foolishly bought AA miles five years ago for 1.1 cents apiece without immediate use in mind. Well, they finally came in handy for an upgrade to business class on PPT-AKL route (15k extra miles per person). I would never pay cash to sit upfront, so using miles was way more palatable for my budget. I can honestly say that it was a splurge I feel good about.

Plus, whether I have United, Avianca or some other miles stashed away, really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Did you redeem your Marriott/SPG points towards a travel package and now have buyer’s remorse? Don’t drive yourself crazy over such a minuscule matter. Look at your existing plans or make new plans if that’s what it takes.

In this hobby we spend an inordinate amount of time reading (and writing)  things that have no real bearing on our lives. I’m not good at multitasking, so if I devote too much time to a certain topic, I tend to slack on things that truly matter. So, my advice to you (and myself) is not to expand too much mental energy on non-consequential dilemmas. You win some and you lose some, but I think we can all agree that most of us are winners when it comes to getting a deeply discounted travel.

Not to sound preachy, but if you have a comfortable home and enough food to eat, being able to travel is just the icing on the cake. A decent stash of miles (any miles) is a cherry on top.

Click here to view various credit cards and available sign-up bonuses